Two South African commuter trains collided at a station in Soweto outside of Johannesburg, injuring 162 people, officials said yesterday. Metrorail spokeswoman Thandi Mlangeni said the collision occurred Wednesday evening at Soweto?s Merafe station, where one train had apparently stalled at the platform amid a local power outage.

?A second train collided with the stationary one ... we had 162 people injured and we transferred them to hospital, four with serious injuries,? Mlangeni said. She said the cause of the accident was under investigation. ?There was a power failure but we cannot say that was the cause at this point.? Commuter rail forms a major transport link between Johannesburg and the suburbs of Soweto, townships which were set up under white rule to house black labourers away from the city centre.